Thus, the problem that practically every anime suffers: they're at the mercy of the mangaka while he makes up new stuff. But filler isn't totally bad, if only because I like the word "filler" and the way it sounds.

Initially I didn't mind the fillers too much since it gave more screen time to the smaller roles, but after so many episodes that didn't always suffice. A few of the arcs are decent, but many are blah. I'm fine watching them once on TV and not again for the most part. I also agree with the first poster that it's not surprising that some of the charm is lost, much of the charm in the series as a whole is lost during all the filler.

Most sane people would skip these fillers. All 100 episodes of it. Couldnt they have just taken a break? Seriously.

Unfortunately they couldn't. Unlike in America where tv stations pay for the rights to air television programs, in Japan the creators of a television program like an anime pay a tv station for a slot when their show will broadcasted. Had Naruto taken a break it would have lost it's time slot and pierot would have had to repay for a slot and who knows whether or not they would have gotten the same one back or if they could afford to get it back. Anyway that's why fillers even exist, not only are the creators at the mercy at the mangaka that's still making the material but they are also at the mercy of their broadcasting station in that if they want to keep the show on the air they have to keep making episodes or stand the chance of losing their slot. This is also why fillers essentially don't exist in western animation. If by chance a show is adapting something ongoing, here in the west there is always the option to take a few months off and come back and air the rest at a later date. The Japanese just don't have this luxury.

This is why I'm glad I don't get into super long-running anime -- after a certain point, it gets really drawn-out. Even when a shorter show does wrap things up in a vastly different fashion than was intended, at least you don't suffer as much. But I wonder if any of these long-running shows will ever tap out...

So is box set 12 the 'official' start of the filler? I'm a couple sets behind on viewing them and I didn't want to buy too many ahead of myself, lest I run into filler.

Box set 11 is the start of the filler. Episode 135's ending is a tad different from the manga, but the fillers start for realz in episode 136, and box set 11 starts with episode 136.

However, in the beginning and the very end of this long filler stretch there is a little bit of canon content sprinkled throughout that you will have to know before Shippuden, so for those I recommend either just watching those few parts of those episodes on Hulu or something, or just buying volume 27 of the manga.

In fact, I recommended buying volume 27 because not only will you get the "real ending" of Naruto pre-Shippuden (i.e. it's not shoehorned into filler episodes or adapted to fit into the filler framework), you'll also get an extensive side-story that was never animated in either Naruto or Naruto Shippuden.

Sheez. MAH NINJA INFO CARDS (actually it's the ANN database...but sssshhhh) tell me there's 220 episodes to the original series. So that means we won't see the end of the Naruto series 1 releases until volume 23 or 24.

Most sane people would skip these fillers. All 100 episodes of it. Couldnt they have just taken a break? Seriously.

I said that exact same thing, and then I realized: The Naruto anime staff is filled with complete fuc**ng morons who have no business near a pen and a piece of paper. They are main reason I've given up on the anime and moved on to the manga.

I had high hopes for Shippuden. It started off well, but yet again the retardation wave hits the staff, and It's off to filler land once again. The anime is very, very far behind thanks to this.

Come to think of it, the movies suck too (IMHO)

rant off.

Last edited by rockman nes on Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:01 am; edited 2 times in total

Most sane people would skip these fillers. All 100 episodes of it. Couldnt they have just taken a break? Seriously.

Unfortunately they couldn't. Unlike in America where tv stations pay for the rights to air television programs, in Japan the creators of a television program like an anime pay a tv station for a slot when their show will broadcasted. Had Naruto taken a break it would have lost it's time slot and pierot would have had to repay for a slot and who knows whether or not they would have gotten the same one back or if they could afford to get it back. Anyway that's why fillers even exist, not only are the creators at the mercy at the mangaka that's still making the material but they are also at the mercy of their broadcasting station in that if they want to keep the show on the air they have to keep making episodes or stand the chance of losing their slot. This is also why fillers essentially don't exist in western animation. If by chance a show is adapting something ongoing, here in the west there is always the option to take a few months off and come back and air the rest at a later date. The Japanese just don't have this luxury.

It has to be fun for the people involved with the anime version to be told, "We need some episodes to take up space, so you need to come up with something for awhile, oh and you can't do anything that would disrupt the original or try to bring in something new." Obviously there are arguments for and against sticking closely to the original manga, but this falls into the arguments against.

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